Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been highlighted for your attention.

Most people spend (on average) half of their day tapping away at their hand-held devices. Either, surfing the net or checking notifications. Facebook ranks the highest in all social networking platforms, followed by Twitter, Instagram and so forth.

Social media is addictive- which is why so many people are 'hooked'. Often referred to as Social networking addiction, this phrase is often used to describe someone who spends too much time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other channels. A blog post, Instagram post, tweet, or youtube video can be produced easily by anyone and shared, which can then be viewed by millions for free. Psychologists and scientists have now taken the time to study social media in terms of why they believe it interferes with aspects of our daily life. There is no official medical term that identifies addiction and social networking. It cannot be deemed as a disease or disorder as the cases are not severe and the habit can easily be maintained or prevented. Furthermore, instead of spending long periods of time on social media, we dip into and out of these sites all day long. We check for updates from friends and family as well as news and information. However, the behavior associated with the excessive use of these channels has become the subject of much public and sociological debate. We actively post, like, comment and share personal posts. Not only that, we tend to share and reshare expressions (of either negative or positive) contagiously. But, why?

Scientists believed some years ago that, dopamine was simply a pleasure chemical in the brain. Recent studies have shown that; dopamine actually produces the desire in people to 'want' by drawing out the need for us to -seek and search. Creating the ultimate drive to find what is that what we want.

Dopamine is spontaneous. It’s stimulated by unpredictability and small bits of information as well as reward cues which are the same conditions that social media presents to all users. In addition, the pull of dopamine is so strong that recent studies have shown that tweeting, for example, can be harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol!

Researchers at Chicago University studied the effects of social media. They concluded quite quickly that people presented higher levels of addiction to social media than the need to smoke or drink. Media cravings ranked higher.

And, let’s not forget oxytocin, many call it the cuddle chemical because the brain releases pleasure chemicals that transpire usually when you kiss and hug- or tweet. It is also known as the hormone that builds the strong yet unique bond between mothers and their babies. Oxytocin is now regarded as the human stimulant of empathy, generosity, trust, and more. These are factors which many advertisers and marketers play on when promoting a brand or business over social media.

Nevertheless, problems have arisen most commonly with school kids - whereby mobile phone devices have been confiscated because exam results have fallen severely due to lack of attention on homework or studies. Schools in many westernized countries have had to take drastic action - banning smartphones, iPad and most portable devices from school premises- as it is claimed to be a huge distraction. Whereas, other schools use it for educational purposes and as a rewards system for their pupils.

Research has also indicated unsurprisingly that Facebook is the most common activity that university students switch to, when studying. Worryingly, it has also found that those who most engage in this type of internet browsing tend to have lower levels of educational achievement.

Also, there have been many cases of students posting or sharing content that is unethical, which has caused parents and academic institutions to limit the use of these online networking channels.

Which of the following words is the most opposite in meaning to the word ‘confiscated’ as given in the passage?

Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.

If you’re concerned that automation and artificial intelligence are going to disrupt the economy over the next decade, join the club. But while policymakers and academics agree there’ll be significant disruption, they differ about its impact.

On one hand, techno-pessimists argue that new forms of automation will displace most jobs without creating new ones. In other words, most of us will lose our jobs. On the flip side of the debate, techno-optimists contend that continued investments in education and research and development will offset the job losses and generate many new human tasks that complement AI.

Researchers have been studying jobs that involve digital skills for years to try to understand their merit. But what does it really mean for a job or skill to be “digital”?

In earlier research, all it meant was that a worker used a computer. Since nearly all workers use a PC today, we need a more refined definition of digital skills that takes into account how much a job depends on doing things like programming, crunching data in Excel spreadsheets and even using a smartphone.

In a particular research, a new way was created to measure digital or information technology skills in the labour market based on how frequently they’re used in an occupation. For example, how much time does a financial adviser spend analyzing data or an event planner use a computer?

It was found that workers in occupations that rank higher in IT industry earn more than demographically similar peers in other occupations – and that this earnings gap has been growing. Not only that, but it was also found something interesting on the impact of a college degree on the lifetime earnings of a person in IT industry. Historically, workers with a college degree have earned a lot more than peers without one. Even the level of the college makes a difference. Recent research has shown that this so-called college premium has been flattening. The main cause, according to the analysis, is that the college premium for occupations requiring fewer digital skills has been declining, while it has been rising for those we identified as digital jobs such as software developers, programmers and aerospace engineering. At least some of the flattening in the college premium is due to the increasing number of bachelor’s degrees that convey few skills that are valued in the marketplace.

Another research compares the measures of job quality – such as a sense of purpose, enjoyability and career advancement – with income, occupations and a range of demographic characteristics. It found that jobs that require greater interaction with technology tended to score higher in quality, particularly in terms of measures like career advancement.

The fact that these jobs not only pay more but also provide greater levels of employee satisfaction and engagement paints a more optimistic picture about the future of work. And that gives hope, particularly since the digital economy is growing at a pace nearly four times faster than the broader economy.

The key is making tomorrow’s jobs “robot-proof” by designing them in a way that takes advantage of the digital skills described above. And universities must play a big role in this by identifying what a good job looks like and ensuring future generations learn the necessary skills.

Which of the following words as used in the passage can be replaced by the word “value”?

Directions: The following sentences form a paragraph. The rest of the sentences are marked as A, B, C, D, E, and F. Sentence 'C' is in the correct place. The rest of the sentences are not given in their proper order. Read the sentences and answer the following questions.

A. It is scheduled to take place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022.

B. In addition, the tournament will be the last to involve 32 teams, with an increase to 48 teams scheduled for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

C. This will be the first World Cup ever to be held in the Arab world, and the second World Cup held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.

D. The final is due to be held on 18 December 2022, which also is Qatar National Day.

E. The 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be the 22nd running of the FIFA World Cup competition.

F. The first match played at the tournament will be contested between Qatar and Ecuador at Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor.

Which sentence should be the FOURTH sentence in the paragraph?

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Fill in the blanks with the help of the options given. Select the most appropriate option for each blank.

Recently, there was a news report about a man who tried to catch a robber but suffered a hip (1)______ in the process. The victim was a plumber and he was (2)______ in the hall outside the bedroom. He had left the bedroom door open for better ventilation. (3)______ two hours after midnight, he heard some noise from the bedroom. When he went in to check, he found a man (4)______ open the cupboard and taking away jewellery and cash. On seeing him, the robber tried to escape and jumped from the second floor. The plumber (5)______ the robber and jumped after him. Unfortunately, he hit a concrete wall and broke his hip; he was rushed to a nearby hospital. The robber managed to escape.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank no. 1.

Select the most appropriate synonym of the word given in the brackets to fill in the blank.
 Doing adventure sports is banned for athletes as it can be ___________ (perilous).

Select the most appropriate option that can substitute the underlined segment in the given sentence.

The clock that we have in our town square is a big in the whole town

In the following passage some words have been deleted. Fill in the blanks with the help of alternatives given. Select the most appropriate option for each blank.

The importance of physical exercise in (1) ______ the incidence of heart attacks cannot be under estimated. The rise of heart attacks has been attaining (2) ______ proportion in recent times causing grave concern specially to the medical (3) ______. Walking is the best mode of physical exercise which (4) ______ no equipment, money, material or (5) ______ of a club.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank number 4.

Given below are four jumbled sentences. Select the option that gives their correct order.

A. It produced a squeaky little note that startled a line parrot out of the mango tree.

B. Kamala took the flute and blew on it.

C. Romi laughed.

D. While he was laughing, Kamala turned and ran through the fields.